FLAMBOYANT, frilly and utterly fantastic – Peonies are the secret weapon to filling your outside space with stunning colour right now.
But how much do you know about the blowsy blooms?
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Were you aware they can live for 100 years? Or that they get better with age?
Alec White from Primrose Hall Nursery in Bedfordshire loves them so much, he gave up his job as a lawyer 15 years ago to grow them full time.
Since then he’s won a Chelsea Gold Medal and holds the Plant Heritage National Collection for unusual Peony Varieties.
He told Sun Gardening: “One of the things I love most, is that they’re so easy to grow. They’ve got a reputation for being funny as they don’t like being picked up and moved.
“But actually they’re tough as old boots. They’ve been around for 100,000 years, they’re all over the Northern Hemisphere.
“They’ve really adapted to all sorts of conditions, whether it’s mountainous, prairies, woodland, wherever- there’s peonies for everything.
“And there’s lots of different foliage, lots of different colours and types.
“They flower from April in the UK until the end of June, or July depending on where you are.
“And they’re really not that fussy.
“If you’re a beginner gardener, they’re perfect, because you plant them and the more you leave them, the more they thrive.
“I call them an ‘inheritance plant’ because they can last for a hundred years – and every year you leave them – they flower more.
“It’s is astonishing how they die down completely – then the next year, they quickly go from this little jewel sticking out the top of the soil in February, to a bit more by March and by April, they’ve shot up.
“That’s down to the quality of the roots – that enables them to shoot up so suddenly.”
He added: “You just need to watch out for Peony Wilt.
“You’ll know this fungal airborne disease by the stem turning black and wilting – normally in the UK around July time.
“There’s nothing you can do apart from cut it out and dispose of it
Any material infected material touches will die as well.
“Peonies don’t generally flower until they’re five years old. Because they’re such a long lived plant, they’ve very slow, they’re very steady and they’re very measured.
“They may look delicate and fragile, and each plant may only flower for a few weeks each year, but they are incredibly robust and long-lived and require very little care and maintenance.”
Alec’s Top Peony Tips
- If you want to feed them, then maybe just do it once a year – a couple of teaspoons of growmore – no more – otherwise you’ll tire them out.
- Water them – even in the summer. They’re really drought tolerant and will take a lot of punishment – but if they don’t get looked after two or three years on the trot, they will start to suffer.
- They don’t like to sit in water, they have quite a fat tuberous root – and if they’re in water over the winter they’ll rot.
- Buy a well established plant – some take 7-8 years before they flower reliably.
- Full sun or part shade, as long as it’s not heavy shade.
- Any soil will do – they’re not fussed – as long as it doesn’t get waterlogged over the winter. They mustn’t have wet feet over winter.
- The biggest thing with planting peonies is depth. The top of the peony doesn’t want to be more than inch or two under the surface.
- If you’re a novice and you’re not quite sure, I’d say keep it on the surface. If they’re any deeper – they will never flower.
- Don’t mulch them – the more you bury them, the more you stop the flowering.
- Give them space for airflow.
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Alec’s Favourites
EARLY
Clair de Lune – pale lemon, single, birds and bees love it, doesn’t mind a bit of shade. Foliage has a slight blue hue, really big flowers, beautifully scented. Flowers Mid to Late April.
MID SEASON
Catherina Fontijn – Herbacious, double, big flowers, blush pink, very delicate, very highly scented.
LATE
Paul M. Wild – nice strong red, flowers towards the end of June.
Shirley Temple is a bit more subtle with slightly smaller flowers, double, white, with a raspberry fringe on them. Open pink but turn white and beautifully scented.
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